The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 24, 2024

Markandeya Viewing Krishna in the Cosmic Ocean

Markandeya Viewing Krishna in the Cosmic Ocean

c. 1680
Gum tempera on paper
Image: 15.2 x 10 cm (6 x 3 15/16 in.); Overall: 20.5 x 15 cm (8 1/16 x 5 7/8 in.)
Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Sherman E. Lee 1967.241
Location: not on view

Did You Know?

Sherman E. Lee, who was the director of the Cleveland Museum of Art from 1958 until 1983, and his wife Ruth donated this painting.

Description

The anonymous court artist from a Hindu kingdom in the foothills of the Himalaya mountains has chosen a web of concentric abstract shapes to represent the cosmic ocean as the backdrop for this elegant, striking composition. The sage Markandeya received the dubious gift of immortality, so even after the destruction and dissolution of the world and all its creatures, he must carry on exhausted and alone through the cosmic ocean until the next world cycle begins. At one point in the darkness he saw a branch from a banyan tree floating on the ocean’s surface, and with awe he saw the infant Krishna on one leaf, sucking his toe. When Markandeya looked into his mouth, he saw the entire universe as it was and as it will be. This story and imagery shows that with the destruction of the universe comes the infancy of evolution, and creation will begin anew.
  • ?–1967
    Dr. Sherman E. Lee [1918–2008] and Mrs. Ruth Ward Lee [1917–2011], Cleveland, OH, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art
    1967–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Spink, Walter M. Krishnamandala. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan, 1971. Reproduced: p. 105, Fig. 119; Mentioned: p. 124.
    Leach, Linda York. Indian Miniature Paintings and Drawings. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art in cooperation with Indiana University Press, 1986. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 105
  • Nature Supernatural (Indian Painting rotation). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 22, 2023-March 3, 2024).
    Main Asian Rotation (Gallery 245). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (January 5-April 27, 2015).
    Year in Review: 1968. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 29-March 9, 1969).
  • {{cite web|title=Markandeya Viewing Krishna in the Cosmic Ocean|url=false|author=|year=c. 1680|access-date=24 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1967.241